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BILL OF FARE OF 1626

If an actual bill of fare in a gentleman's house, anno 1626, be worth your acceptance, as a pendant to the one prescribed in your fourth number, you are welcome to the following extract from the account book of Sir Edward Dering, Knt. and Bart.:—

"A Dinner att London, made when my Lady Richardson, my sister E Ashbornham, and Kate Ashb,—my brother John Ashb, my cosen Walldron and her sister, and S'r John Skeffington, were with me att Aldersgate streete, December 23, 1626. My sister Fr Ashb and cosen Mary Hill did fayle of coming.

A banquett ready in y'e next room.

Mem'd—we had out of y'e country y'e goose, y'e duckes, y'e capon py, y'e Cake and wardens, and y'e venison; but that is allways p'd for, though given."

The above seems to have been a family dinner. Sir Edward married, for his second wife, a daughter of Sir Ashbornham, as appears by the following entry:—

"1. January 1624/5, beeing Saturday, at sixe of y'e clocke att night, atte Whitehall, in y'e Duke of Buckingham's lodgings, I married Anne Ashbornham, third dâ of Sir Ashbornham, late of Ashbornham, Kt."

In another entry we have—

"… Dec. 1626, being thursday, Elizabeth Lady Ashbornham widor of S'r Jno Ashbornham, was married in S't Giles his Church in y'e feildes, nere London, to S'r Thomas Richardson, K't, then Lo. cheife Justice of y'e common pleas."

The day of the month is torn out. It would almost seem as if this was the wedding dinner, on the occasion of the marriage of the Chief Justice with Lady Dering's mother; at all events the reunion of the family in London was caused by that event.

Banquet was the name given to a dessert, and it was usually set out in another room.

The large baking pear is still called warden in many counties.

Appended to the above is a bill of the items of the "banquet," with the cost of hire for the glass plates; but it is so hopelessly illegible that I will not venture to give it. Many of the items, as far as I can read them, are not to be found in "the books," and are quite new to me.

Having had no small experience in deciphering hopeless scribblings, I think I may pronounce this to be better left alone than given in its present confused state.

LAMBERT B. LARKING

Ryarsh Vicarage.

MONETA SANCTÆ HELENÆ

As a subscriber to your valuable publication, allow me to suggest that it might, from time to time, be open to contributions explaining obscure passages or words, which often occur in the works of mediæval writers, and more especially in early English records. So far as English usages and customs are concerned, the Glossary of Du Cange is of comparatively little value to the English student; many terms, indeed, being wrongly interpreted in all editions of that work. Take, for example, the word "tricesima," the explanation of which is truly ridiculous; under "berefellarii," the commentary is positively comic; and many other instances might be cited. At the same time, it would be presumptuous to speak otherwise than in terms of the highest respect and admiration of Du Cange and his labours. The errors to which I allude were the natural consequences of a foreigner's imperfect knowledge of English law and English customs; still it is to be lamented that they should have remained uncorrected in the later editions of the Glossary; and I take it to be our duty to collect and publish, where feasible, materials for an English dictionary of mediæval Latin. It is in your power materially to advance such a work, and under that impression I venture to send the present "Note."

In the Wardrobe Account of the 55th year of Henry the Third, it is stated that among the valuables in the charge of the keeper of the royal wardrobe, there was a silken purse, containing "monetam Sancte Helene." It is well known that, during the middle ages, many and various objects were supposed to possess talismanic virtues. Of this class were the coins attributed to the mother of Constantine, the authenticity of which is questioned by Du Cange, in his treatise "de Inferioris ævi numismatibus." He observes, also, that the same name was given, vulgarly, to almost all the coins of the Byzantine emperors, not only to those bearing the effigies of St. Helena, but indeed to all marked with a cross, which were commonly worn suspended from the neck as phylacteries; "hence," he subjoins, "we find that these coins are generally perforated." It was quite in accordance with the superstitious character of Henry the Third that coins of St. Helena should be preserved in his wardrobe, among numerous other amulets and relics. But what was the peculiar virtue attributed to such coins? Du Cange, in the same treatise, says, on the authority of "Bosius," that they were a remedy against the "comitialem morbum," or epilepsy. The said "Bosius," or rather "Bozius," wrote a ponderous work, "de Signis Ecclesiæ Dei" (a copy of which, by the by, is not to be seen in the library of the British Museum, although there are two editions of it in the Bodleian), in which he discourseth as follows:—"Monetæ adhuc aliquot exstant, quæ in honorem Helenæ Augustæ, et inventæ crucis, cum hujusmodi imaginibus excusæ antiquitus fuerunt. Illis est præsens remedium adversus morbum comitialem: et qui hodie vivit Turcarum Rex Amurathes, quamvis a nobis alienus, vim sanctam illarum expertus solet eas gestare; e morbo namque hujusmodi interdum laborat. Nummi quoque Sancti Ludovici Francorum regis mirifice valent adversus nonnullos morbos."—Lib. xv. sig. 68.

This mention of the sultan Amurath carrying these coins about his person as a precaution against a disease to which he was subject, and indeed the whole passage shows a belief in their efficacy was still prevalent in the sixteenth century, when Bozius wrote. It only remains to add, that Du Cange, in his Glossary, does not enumerate the "money of St. Helena" under the word "moneta;" nor does he allude to the coins of St. Louis, which, according to Bozius, were endowed with similar properties.

Having sent you a "Note," permit me to make two or three "Queries." 1. What is the earliest known instance of the use of a beaver hat in England? 2. What is the precise meaning of the term "pisan," so often used, in old records, for some part of defensive armour, particularly in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries? It does not bear any relation to the fabrics of Pisa.

T. HUDSON TURNER.

TRANSLATIONS OF GRAY'S ELEGY

Sir,—My best apology for troubling you with such a lengthened Query is, that it will serve, to some extent, as a Note. Will any of your correspondents inform me of any additions to the following list of translations of Gray's Elegy? It may possibly be more incomplete than I am aware of, as it is drawn up, with two exceptions, from copies in my own library only.

Greek:

1. By Professor Cooke, printed with his edition of Aristotle's Poetics, Cantab. 1775. It begins:—

[Greek: "Nux pelei, oud an agros pura kaietai, oud ana komas."]

2. By Dr. Norbury. 4to. Eton. 1793:—

[Greek: "Atgellei kodon barus aeelion katadunta."]

3. By Dr. Sparke, Bishop of Ely. 4to. Lond. 1794:—

[Greek: "Kodon aematos oichomenoio baruktupos aechei."]

4. By Dr. Coote. 4to. Lond. 1794:—

[Greek: "Kodon daeta, phaous tekmor apiontos, epaechei."]

5. By Stephen Weston. 4to. London, 1794:—

[Greek: "Aematos oichomenoio boai chalkos baruaechaes."]

6. By Edward Tew. 4to. Lond. 1795:—

[Greek: "Tael' aechei kodon neon aematos anomenoio."]

There is also a Greek version of the epitaph only, by J. Plumptre, printed with his Greek version of Pope's Messiah. 4to. 1795. In a biographical notice of Dr. Sparke, it is stated that he was among the thirteen candidates when the competition took place for the best translation of Gray's Elegy into Greek. Query, what was this competition, and were any of the other versions published?

Latin:

1. By Lloyd. Query, when and where originally published? My copy, which is among some collections of the late Mr. Haselwood, appears to have been cut out of a Dublin edition. It begins:—

"Audistin! quam lenta sonans campana per agros."

2. By Signor Gio. Costa. 12mo. In Eblana, 1776:—

"Æs triste ingeminat cedentis signa diei."

3. By Gilbert Wakefield, in his "Poemata partim scripta, partim reddita." Cambridge, 1776:—

"Vesper adest, lugubre sonat Campanula; tardis."

4. By C.A. et W.H.R. [C. Anstey and W.H. Roberts.] 4to. London, 1778:—

"Ingeminat signum occiduæ Campana diei."

5. The last-mentioned version originally appeared anonymously in a somewhat different form (4to. Cantab. 1762), the first line being:—

"Audin' ut occiduæ signum Campana diei."

6. An anonymous version, "by a member of the University of Cambridge," printed with the French translation of M. Guedon de Berchere, mentioned below. I have no copy, and do not know the opening line.

7. By S.N.E. 4to. London, 1824. Query, the name of the author. It may perhaps appear on the title-page, which is wanting in my copy:—

"Triste sonans, lentè tinnit campana per agros."

8. By the Rev. J. H. Macauley, in the "Arundines Cami:"—

"Funebris insonuit morituræ nænia lucis."

Italian:

1. By Cesarotti. 8vo. In Padova, 1772:—

"Parte languido il giorno: odine il segno."

2. By Crocchi. Query, when and where originally published? My copy is from the same source as the Latin version by Lloyd:—

"Il Bronzo vespertin con flebil rombo."

3. By Gennari, printed on the same pages with the Latin version by Costa:—

"Nunzio del dì che parte intorno suona."

4. By Giannini. 2nd ed. 4to. London, 1782:—

"Piange la squilla 'l giorno, che si muore."

5. By Torelli. 8vo. Cambridge, 1782:—

"Segna la squilla il dì che già vien manco."

The Latin version by Costa, and the Italian by Cesarotti and Torelli, were reprinted by Bodoni in 1793, in 4to., as a supplement to his edition of Gray.

French:

1. By Mons. P. Guedon de Berchere. I have no copy, and do not know the opening line. Perhaps you will oblige me by inserting it in your list of books wanted to purchase. It is entitled "Elégie composée dans un Cimetière de Campagne." 8vo. Hookham, &c. 1778.

2. By L.D. 8vo. Chatham, 1806. Query, what name is represented by these initials?—

"le Rappel a marqué le jour en son déclin."

3. Prose version. Anonymous. 8vo. A Paris. An vi.:—

"La Cloche du couvre-feu tinte le clas du jour qui expire."

German:

A translation appeared in the Kaleidoscope, a weekly paper published in Liverpool, in May, 1823. It was communicated by a correspondent who had obtained a copy from the writer in Germany:—

"Des Dorfes Glocke schallt den Moor entlang."

I must frankly avow that I have no present object in seeking information beyond the gratification of curiosity; but I would venture to throw out a hint that an edition of this Elegy, exhibiting all the known translations, arranged in double columns, might be made a noble monument to the memory of Gray. The plan would involve the necessity for a folio size, affording scope for pictorial illustration, on a scale capable of doing justice to "the most finished poem in the English language."